Currently

He::

:: tells jokes, especially knock-knocks, all day long.  You'll find him reading joke books, memorizing them, trying them out on us; making up his own, laughing a lot, learning that the interrupting cow is always a good one.  Ask him next time you see him.

:: needs a hair cut, but is sort of liking the length enough to let it be.

:: is counting down the days till we can go to the Pumpkin Farm.  This countdown is super intense pretty much from Easter onward.  Less than a month to go!!

:: wanted to lay out on the deck at bedtime the other night as a family and "look up at the solar system."  So we did and are pretty sure we saw 2 planets, one satellite, 5 airplanes and a shooting star!!

:: is interested in skeletons and bones.  He got a cool raccoon skull from Grandpa which has led to his interest in collecting more. Now he makes me save chicken bones for him from dinner :-)

:: learned how to play Ghost in the Graveyard this summer while hanging out for late-nights with friends.  It's a rite-of-passage I think, and each time he is more brave and proud of himself.

:: says every day, "I need Jed" in reference to his favorite friend.  If only we didn't live quite so far from each other....

:: has decided that when he grows up he'd like to own an RC race track where people pay to use his space and play together.  He even made a map of our backyard to show what it will look like. 

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She::

:: calls Ruby "Mrs. Mow" (rhymes with cow).  She also runs to let her in and out of the door 85 times a day and loves to feed her breakfast.  She makes her "cat nests" and tunnels and beds all over the house.  Pampered cat.... for now.

:: has been the great moth-hunter this summer. She traps them and holds them until they fall apart, then sort of feels bad.  They really are fragile!

:: traded in all her skirts and dresses for shorts and pants again.  It was a short-lived phase and I enjoyed it, but she says they are too tickle-y.  Oh well.

:: taught herself to braid.  I find braided strands of grass everywhere.

:: is a parrot of Evan.  She says everything he says.  If I ask her a question, she looks at Evan for an answer first, then says what he does in the exact same way.  She is also his echo, repeating him constantly and looking at him for approval.  Luckily, he loves it :-)

:: can now make it through a day without a crying breakdown.  We've counted two this summer and expect to see even more....  She has cried every single day since August 15, 2006 so this is a big deal.

:: loves reading fairy tales and folk tales more than any other stories.  Right now she's into Anansi the Spider stories.

:: draws pictures (of horses) and gives them away to her friends constantly.  She just recently started giving some to me!

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They::

:: moved the stereo/cd player into their bedroom so they can listen to their Sandra Boynton silly music without driving us crazy.  They listen to Lonely Peas and Faraway Cookies on repeat so many times.....

:: play in their room with the door closed.... a lot.

:: have both deepened friendships this summer.  When we get together with families, they run off and play with their friends for the duration of a visit.... so different from how it was not so long ago...

:: really love watching "Lady and the Tramp"

:: spend a good portion of every day swinging from the ropes on our tree -- they can both swing with one arm holding on now (which is more difficult than it sounds).

:: stayed up later at night this summer then ever before.  We moved bedtime to 9pm with a shorter book/cuddle time (we usually started it at 7pm to be in bed by 8pm) so we could have late visits with friends and it was so worth it.

Evan and Chloe experienced some lovely moments together as a result of these more casual evenings -- catching fireflies after dark, watching a thunderstorm blow in, taking walks while it was raining, petting bumblebees when they are sluggish in the evening, sitting around campfires eating s'mores in the dark, realizing there are thousands of stars in the sky (not just the 20-30 we can see in the city), staring up at the full moon in all it's glory -- these are things you miss out on if you can't go outside after 7pm!!

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I haven't done many in depth posts since we have been out experiencing summer together, but now that it's cooling down again, I'll hopefully be back to the way I like it on here -- with lots of stories.

Bubbles

Not Solitaire

We like to play Solitaire together, so I guess that's a contradiction to the name of the game.  I taught Evan how to play last year and he's pretty good at it now, although it took him a long time to catch on.  Chloe just recently learned by watching us, and she picked up on it so quickly it boggles my mind.  She has a natural understanding of games and patterns and prefers games like this (and Chess) to simple board games involving zero skill (like Candyland, etc.).  That works out great for all of us!!

Writing

Chloe has never had a "sit down and learn your letters" lesson. 
She doesn't know the alphabet.  At all.
Until about a month ago she still had to ask me how to spell and make the letters in her name. 

So what's this?

Unschooling at work.

Writing has a purpose, and when you need to use it, you figure out how to do it.

You master it because you see how useful it is and want to be good at it.

Chloe now writes her name on everything she draws, and is wanting to spell others' names too.

Slow progress?  Maybe.  But who are we comparing to?  Nobody :-)

The Best

The best kind of friend is one who listens to you, plays with you, gives you real hugs, and laughs at your jokes.  And it's even more of a bonus if they happen to be your family too. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris,
Evan loves you more than words can express. 
Thank you for loving him so purely and deeply.
You are the best.
And you are his real friend.
:-)

Bits & Pieces :: August

These super long ribbon headbands are what the kids use when they play Flynn and Rapunzel.  Even though Evan is Flynn he still wears the hair...  Anyway, they run all over with this hair trailing behind.  Thanks mom for all the ribbon you have put on their gifts over the years. ;-)

We rarely go to playgrounds anymore.  The kids really don't like the structures so much as they do the beautiful surroundings, so we start out on the play-things and end up in the woods.  That's why we usually just... go to the woods.

We had the kids' friend Bella over to play one day and I actually took pictures (I know!!!!).  She is a lot like Chloe in how strong-willed she is so there were several um... struggles throughout the day.  Having two Chloe's is more difficult than having one Chloe.  But they had fun too.

She and Chloe played horses, dress-up and fort-building:

Bella also likes climbing ropes, sword fighting, playing chase, and making mud.  Girlfriend really likes mud.

Someone is always on a rope or swing when we are outside.  I am so grateful for our backyard tree.  We literally would not have bought this house (or any house) without a backyard tree.  Deal breaker.

At my mom and Greg's new place there is a 4-wheeler to be played on.  Todd has taken the kids for a few fun rides already.

Evan plays with the speedy RC machine all the time. 

Chloe has learned to steer Evan's old rock crawler so they play together in the yard now.  She will do anything to be like him.

She does stand apart in her love of glitter and sparkles though.  That's all her.

Chloe brought her horses to Aunt Bryce's house specifically so she could build a horse barn out of her old Duplo blocks that now belong to Ajay.  The same exact barn she always made long ago.

Evan still builds legos nearly every day.  He alternates between wanting to follow directions and just creating on his own.

These little party umbrellas are something of a treasure here.  The kids covet them and use them when they play monster trucks.  Apparently the trucks do not like sunshine or sweating.  Who knew?

Chess.  Chess.  More chess.  I will play chess every day till I die....  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but really, it's a lot.

This little tub in the backyard is great for all kinds of fun.  Lego boats for Evan and lego horse-house-boats for Chloe.

There are so many little stories I know I'm forgetting since I don't take as many pictures anymore.  I really need to start keeping my notebook out again to jot the cute stuff down....

Mystery Playtime

Want to try to figure out what this scene was?? 

The kids had this stuff set up on the floor for two days (in the main walkway of the living room...) and played for hours in a row both days.  I still have no idea what in the world was going on.

They were not happy when it came time to clean up, since there were dozens of categories of things that needed separated and put away.  So now it's in their room set up next to the wall.